


The Building to the Left

by talesfromthewater



Category: The 100
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Minor Monty Green/Nathan Miller, Monty Green - Freeform, Nathan Miller - Freeform, octavia blake - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23395000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talesfromthewater/pseuds/talesfromthewater
Summary: Bellamy sees Clarke dancing on the roof of her apartment building during a lockdown, his roommates find out and decide to send her a message on his behalf (and maybe a little behind his back).  He doesn't expect the girl to actually message him.**I didn't even really go over this before it was posted, so please if there's anything wrong let me know so I can fix it! :)
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin
Comments: 5
Kudos: 80





	The Building to the Left

Bellamy was going absolutely crazy. It was the second week of his self-isolation due to the worldwide pandemic happening and he was sick of it. He knew he’d rather be sick of being isolated rather than actually sick with the virus; but he was done. He hadn’t seen his sister in ten days, he hadn’t seen his group of friends in ten days, he hadn’t seen more than his street in ten days and he was about to pull his hair out. Sure they’d been talking in the group chat and they’d been video chatting when they could but it wasn’t the same. He was ready for this whole thing to be over. 

Today found him sitting on the balcony of his apartment reading a book in his comfiest pyjama pants and a soft t-shirt. He had a cup of tea on the little table that was set up out there and he knew his roommates were all watching tv in the living room. There was a slight breeze to the day but the sun was shining and it was keeping him warm even with the wind, at least if he had to be stuck at home for weeks on end the weather was nice enough that he could spend time outside. He was also pleased that the normally busy street below was quiet due to people staying home. 

He had been outside for a couple hours when his peaceful quiet was interrupted by music. He rolled his eyes and marked his page in his book going to the railing to see where the music was coming from. It took a second but his eyes finally landed on a girl on the roof of the building to the left of his. He was mesmerized watching as she danced atop the roof of her building, following her movements as she followed the music. The first song was angry, and she threw her body around with more force than precision; Bellamy felt an anxiety rising in his chest that if she missed a step and fell she’d probably be hurt, which is definitely how he justified watching her. Someone would have to call an ambulance if she did get hurt. 

He pulled his chair over to the railing, and opened his book to keep reading, occasionally peeking up from the pages and immediately being captivated by the grace she had as she moved through the step. It seemed to be a routine, if the song being on repeat had been any indication. Before he knew it the sun was setting and Miller was hollering at him asking if he was going to help with dinner or not. He closed his book again, moved the chair back where it belonged, took one more glance at the girl dancing across the way and headed inside. 

“What kept you outside so long today, Blake?” Miller asked as they worked their way through preparing dinner. 

“I was reading.”

Miller and Monty shared a look and Monty piped up, “you moved the chair, and every time we looked out at you, you were not looking at your book.” Miller couldn’t contain his laugh at that and they both watched Bellamy roll his eyes. 

“Come on, man.”

“You know what, if you won’t tell us we’ll just go out to the balcony and see if we can figure out what it was you were looking at.”

“Okay, fine! Fine! There was a girl dancing on the building beside us. She was really good, I couldn’t stop watching her.”

“That’s not creepy at all!” Monty said, sarcasm evident in his voice. 

“I know that, thank you very much.” Bellamy said as he pulled the bowl away from Monty, needing it for his pasta. 

“Well really, if she didn’t want people seeing her, she wouldn’t have been dancing on the roof of her building when the building beside her is taller and clearly people would be able to see.” Miller said from his spot at the counter. 

“Exactly!” Bellamy pointed at Monty.

“That may be true, but I don’t think she expected people to sit there and watch her.”

“Who knows, maybe she did - you’ve seen those videos of everyone stuck inside all singing together.” Bellamy reasoned.

Monty considered this for a minute, and then said, “Fine, I have an idea!”

Now it was Bellamy’s turn to exchange a look with Miller, worry clear on his face. Wherever this was going he already didn’t like it. He’d been friends with Miller since they were kids, Monty and Jasper joined their little group when they met Octavia in high school and Monty moved in with the two of them when Maya and Jasper decided to move in together. None of them ever guessed that Jasper would be the first to move in with a significant other but here they were. They’ve been living together for about six months now and it’s worked out pretty well. Bellamy made himself a mental note to reevaluate the choice after he heard Monty’s idea.

“If she’s still out there, why don’t we attach a note to my drone and fly it over to her.”

Bellamy put his hands up, “Nope, absolutely not!”

“Why?”

“Because  _ that _ is weird.”

They went back to cooking and the rest of it was pretty silent, working away on their own portions of the meal. Bellamy was making a pasta salad, Miller was in charge of the protein, and Monty was responsible for the veggies. They were almost done, when Bellamy noticed Monty was missing from the kitchen. He turned to Miller, “hey do you know where Monty went?”

“Nope.” and he popped the ‘p’ a little too hard to be telling the truth. 

“Shit.” Bellamy said as he walked out of the kitchen, and saw Monty standing on the balcony with the control to his drone in his hand. Bellamy ran over to the door and tried to open it but Monty had propped a piece of wood in it from his side to prevent it from opening, “Damnit! Monty don’t you dare, you open this door right now!”

Monty looked over his shoulder and started laughing. He laughed even harder when he saw the horror in his face as the drone took off from the table and made its way towards her building. He was banging on the window and Monty just continued to ignore him. Miller was laughing hysterically on the couch, “it’s not funny, Miller!”

Miller sat up, “You’re right, you’re absolutely right. It’s not funny.” he started to smile and his will broke and he burst out laughing again, “It’s hilarious!” and he fell over again laughing loudly. 

Bellamy had gone back into the kitchen, kicking Miller as he did. About ten minutes later, Bellamy heard the balcony door open and close and feet shuffle down the hallway towards the bedrooms. Monty came back into the kitchen, followed closely by Miller. Bellamy made himself a plate and took it to his room. He wasn’t one to be mad, but he couldn’t believe Monty actually did that. He stayed in his room for the rest of the night, opting to watch a movie there rather than in the living room. 

He decided to video chat Octavia, and told her what happened, and she thought it was just as funny as Miller had.

“Gee thanks, O. You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Oh Bell, relax. You’ll probably never even see her again, so why do you care so much?”

“It’s just embarrassing.”

“Okay, but again, you don’t even know who she is so it doesn’t even matter.”

He rolled his eyes at her, “Don’t roll your eyes at me, Bellamy. You’re the one that watched her for the afternoon and then decided to tell your friends about it.”

“Shut up.”

She just laughed at that, “What else is new with you, big brother?”

“O, I have only left my apartment to get groceries; how is there going to be anything new with me?”

“I don’t know, just thought I’d ask. Sheesh, don’t bite my head off because you’re mad at Miller and Monty.”

“Sorry, but really, what would be new with me?”

“I guess that’s fair. Lincoln and I are fostering a dog from the humane society while all this is going on, we got him about an hour ago.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah they asked for foster families for the dogs because they cut staff to decrease possible exposure. He knows the one vet that works there and reached out to him saying that we could do it. I mean we have the space, I’m surprised we don’t have a dog of our own by now.”

“I’m kind of surprised too, you’ve always wanted a dog.”

“Well I can almost guarantee you that this dog won’t be going back to the pound, I think Lincoln already filled out the adoption papers,” she laughed, “but he’s awesome, so it’s okay!”

“What’s his name?”

“Chewy, I’ll send you a picture when we hang up. Lincoln has him outside playing fetch in the yard right now.”

They talked for a few more minutes, telling each other about their favourite new memes about the virus and how ridiculous it was that no store anywhere had any toilet paper. Octavia told him a little bit more about Chewy and then said she was hungry so she was going to go get a snack. They said their goodbyes and hung up. Bellamy went back over to his bed and picked up his phone, where he had a notification from an unknown number.

**Unknown Number [8:43]:** I hear you’re the one that was watching me today *Thinking emoji*.

“Monty!” He yelled from his room, and waited until his friend came in, “Did you give the dancer girl my number?!” his voice was definitely raised.

Monty’s face flushed immediately, “Maybe?”

“It wasn’t bad enough that you flew your drone over to her and told her I was watching her, but you  _ gave her my number?! _ ”

“Well when you put it like that…”

“What else did you say?”

“Nothing, all the note said was ‘Saw you dancing today, you’re great, here’s my number if you want to chat during all this’”

Bellamy turned in a circle dramatically sighing as he did when it clicked to Monty, “Wait did she contact you?”

Bellamy threw him the phone to the open text, in hindsight he really should have known better. Monty’s eyes went wide and Bellamy was pacing back and forth in his room rambling about what he was going to do now. How was he supposed to respond to that without sounding like a total creep? Why was she even reaching out to him? How was he ever going to show his face on their street again?

Monty broke him from his rambling and gave him the phone back, Bellamy’s face flushed when he saw that Monty had replied to the girl. Yup, in hindsight he should have known better.

**Bellamy [8:22]:** I saw you while I was reading on my balcony, I’m Bellamy by the way.

Monty saw the look in Bellamy’s eyes and ran from the room closing the door with force as he left. Bellamy, the dramatic princess that he was, threw himself onto his bed face down and groaned loudly into the mattress. He really needed to reevaluate his friendships. Too bad he loved his friends enough to know that he would never be able to stay mad at them. He was contemplating the best way to deal with the situation, block the number, move apartments maybe, or better yet move cities(!), when his phone lit up with a notification.

**Unknown [8:30]:** Nice to ‘meet’ you, Bellamy. I’m Clarke. Why were you watching me?

**Bellamy [8:32]:** Nice to ‘meet’ you too, Clarke. Well I was reading, and then I heard your music so I was looking to see where it was coming from and I saw you dancing. Your first dance was really intense and I was slightly worried that if you fell and got hurt that no one would know and be able to do anything for you. After the first one I saw you when I looked up from my book. Sorry if that’s creepy, I didn’t mean it to be.

**Clarke [8:34]:** I guess I never really thought of the getting hurt thing, so thanks. I saw you reading, I guess I was periodically glancing at you too.

**Bellamy [8:35]:** Oh yeah?

**Clarke [8:34]:** I guess I was, yeah. Sorry if my music disturbed your peace and quiet while you were reading, I just needed to get out.

**Bellamy [8:35]:** I get that, but you don’t need to apologize, your music didn’t disturb me.

**Clarke [8:36]:** Okay, good. I’m guessing you’re locked down?

**Bellamy [8:36]:** Yeah, today was day 10. It’s been tough. Are you on lockdown?

**Clarke [8:37]:** No, I’m a doctor. There’s no lockdown for us unless absolutely necessary, and I’ve been lucky so far. But today was a particularly bad day so I just needed to not be in my apartment after I got home.

**Bellamy [8:37]:** Everything okay?

**Clarke [8:38]:** Yeah, I’ll be fine. I’m sure you don’t want to hear the problems of someone you don’t even know anyway :P

**Bellamy [8:39]:** I made sure to be ready to call for help if you fell during your dance and I don’t know you, I think you can talk to me if you wanted to. 

**Bellamy [8:39]:** Unless you don’t want to. I don’t want to pressure you into anything, of course. You could block my number and we can pretend today never happened.

Her reply didn’t come right away and he figured he scared her off. He pulled out his old guitar and started playing a couple different songs, his hands moving by muscle memory over the strings as he played the songs he’s played multiple times before. The ones he played when things were too much. The ones that brought him back when he felt overwhelmed, maybe he could learn some new songs through this isolation. He always loved playing so why not pick it back up? 

He checked his phone and noticed a couple notifications. 

**Clarke [8:50]:** Sorry, my mom called me and I had to talk to her. 

**Clarke [8:53]:** Today’s the anniversary of my father’s death. That’s why my first dance was so intense, it’s the best way I know how to get out of my own head. But it’s also a routine that I choreographed for him, he told me growing up that was one of his favourite songs. He was really into the heavy music for some reason, and it’s funny because he only listened to mellow songs, at least when I was around. So when he told me that, it felt like the right thing to do. I got to show it to him before he died and he loved it. So every year I dance it on this day. Then I go into my other stuff to get out of my head. 

**Clarke [8:59]:** I think it’s safe to say that was too much information for a couple of strangers to share with each other. Sorry, Bellamy. 

_ Shit. Why didn't I check my phone sooner? _

**Bellamy [9:24]:** Gosh, Clarke. I’m so sorry. About not answering and about your dad. I figured I freaked you out, so I put my phone down and picked up my guitar. I didn’t see it light up with your messages. 

**Bellamy [9:25]:** From what I can tell, you’re a great dancer. I’m not an expert or anything, but you looked good out there today. Do you do it professionally?

**Clarke [9:27]:** Thanks. It was hard when he died. Things kind of went south with my mom after too, so it’s been a crap couple years. Please stop me if you find any of this weird.

**Bellamy [9:28]:** It’s definitely weird that we’re talking, given how it happened, but it’s also kind of nice? I mean that probably sounds strange, but I’ve only been talking to my friends and my sister and they’re all locked down. There’s only so much you can talk about for those days when no one is going anywhere or doing anything.

**Clarke [9:30]:** That’s understandable. I have a plethora of new stories and information for you if you ever want it. Especially considering we don’t know each other so you’ll have never heard these ones before ;) 

**Bellamy [9:32]:** You’d be right about that. I guess the same goes for you, if you ever need someone new to talk to or some fun stories about people you don’t know, I’m your guy!

**Clarke [10:04]:** Sorry, I may have fallen asleep. I should go to bed. But don’t make promises you can’t keep, cause I’m going to hold you to that!

**Bellamy [10:05]:** I don’t break promises. Anytime you want to chat, I’m here. Goodnight, Clarke. I hope tomorrow is better than today.

**Clarke [10:06]:** Today started really bad, but ended better than I could have guessed it would. Goodnight, Bellamy. 

Bellamy put his phone down and turned on a new movie. He picked something off of his Netflix watchlist but he wasn’t really paying attention. He had picked up his tablet and began looking up songs that he could buy the sheet music for. He found a couple that he wanted and purchased them, knowing that he was going to be spending most of his day tomorrow getting reacquainted with his guitar. 

***

Just as he expected, Bellamy spent most of the following day in his room with his guitar learning the songs he bought last night. A couple times he got frustrated and put it down, choosing to read or watch tv for a little bit before going back. He texted with Octavia and the others a little bit, but was mostly just sitting with his guitar, it reminded him of the days in high school. The days before he knew why he sometimes felt the way he felt. 

He didn’t like remembering those days, didn’t like remembering how there was sometimes this overwhelming sense of unease and feeling like he didn’t belong anywhere. When it happened during the week he put on a brave face, not letting anyone see what he was going through, internalizing everything to an unhealthy extent. Then finally when the weekend came he barricaded himself in his room and when he did get out of bed it was only to pick up the guitar. He wasn’t ashamed of those days, he knew that they made him the person he is today, but he didn’t like remembering how stubborn he was. If he had just listened to his mom and talked to someone maybe those bad days wouldn’t have been as bad as they were. 

Now he had gotten answers as to why he felt that way; he knew the healthy way to deal with those feelings when they came over him so that they didn’t get so bad that he wouldn’t leave his room for days on end. He didn’t have to hide behind false bravado and ego. He was an ass in his high school days, hell even in his early college days. That he wasn’t proud of, but deep down he knew it was just a defence mechanism for everything he felt but didn’t know how to express. 

He had been playing one of his new songs for the third time all the way through when he saw his phone light up at the end of his bed. He scooted down to see what it was.

**Clarke [5:43]:** Tell me something good, please. 

**Bellamy [5:44]:** Clarke, is everything okay?

**Clarke [5:44]:** Please just tell me a happy short story.

**Bellamy [5:45]:** My sister is fostering a dog named Chewy from the humane society while they’re running on limited staff. They had him for about 32 seconds before her husband decided that he wanted to adopt him full-time. Had to see that one coming. 

**Clarke [5:47]:** Thanks. 

**Bellamy [5:48]:** What’s going on?

**Clarke [5:49]:** I’m on shift and it’s been hell so far, I’ve finally found a couple minutes to sit down and breathe. I don’t have much time though. 

The next thing he knew his phone was ringing, with her caller ID.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Hey, sorry is it okay that I called?”

“Of course.” he was taken back by how her voice sounded. It was a little deeper than he thought it would be and she sounded completely wiped. 

“Thanks, I just don’t have a lot of time before I inevitably get called back so this is just easier than texting right now.”

“You don’t have to explain to me, Clarke, it’s fine. Are you okay? You don’t seem okay.”

“I want to say yes, but honestly no. This has been the worst day since this whole thing started. I only have one friend here but she’s not even here right now because she got quarantined at her boyfriend’s house. We’ve been talking often but I wish she was here. She’s my roommate, not that I’d get to see her anyway being a doctor I’d have to isolate from her so she’s probably safer there. But it just sucks. I’m so alone and I’m on the front lines and I can’t do it anymore. I hate bugging her, and I hate bugging you.” Bellamy was sure she was crying now. 

“Clarke, breathe, I need you to take a deep breath.” he was trying to use the most soothing voice he could, “Everything is going to be okay.”

“How is it going to be okay, Bellamy? No one is taking this seriously and people are dying. They’re dying alone because they can’t have visitors and people can’t mourn their families because they can’t be in big groups and they can’t say goodbye, and no one is taking it seriously. It’s not fair!”

“I know, Clarke, I know. Nothing about this is fair, but I’m sure you’re doing everything you can for the people you’re treating. I know it doesn’t seem like it now, but everything will be okay. It’s going to take time but it will. And when it is, I hope you know I’m going to be the first one to say ‘I told you so’, so you have that to look forward to.” Bellamy was laughing softly as he said it and he could hear he giggle softly too. 

“Thanks Bellamy. I have to go, the job calls, but can we talk after?”

“Of course. Anytime, Clarke. Just let me know.”

“I’m off at 10, can I call you when I get home or is that too late?”   


“That’s fine, Clarke. We’ll talk then.” he was silent for a minute, “Thank you for everything you’re doing, Clarke.”

“Bye, Bellamy.” she said it softly and his phone beeped to signal the end of the call. 

He carried on his day, helping Miller and Monty make dinner again, playing guitar, scrolling through the social media he barely used. Although the past week and a half he found himself on it more and more. He scrolled through the different social media outlets, laughing at a couple of his friends posts and carrying on. He opened up Instagram to try and find Clarke, when he realized he didn’t even know her last name yet. 

In the end he decided he just needed to get out of his apartment just after dinner was eaten and the kitchen was cleaned up, he got changed and grabbed his headphones. He told Miller and Monty he was going for a walk around the block and headed out the door. They lived in a fairly large city, and it was a fairly busy area usually. He’d never seen it so quiet, sure he knew it was from being out on his balcony, but seeing it from there and seeing it from ground level was a completely different experience. 

The stores and restaurants that lined the main road were dark, the bus stops were silent, and the park was deserted. It was something out of a horror movie and it gave Bellamy the chills. He kept looking over his shoulder for some crazy guy in a mask to come chasing after him with a machete or something. He didn’t know how Clarke walked these empty, quiet streets to work every day only to be met with madness and chaos when she reached her destination. That made his heart sink, realizing just how juxtaposed the two were and how she experienced it every day with no end in sight. 

Their government was unsure on how long this would last, it hit other parts of the world hard, but they were advised that the lockdown remained in effect until 21 days after the first day with no reported new cases. If three days into that twenty-one day countdown a new case arose, it started all over again. They just announced that all classes for schools will be moving to online, so Bellamy knew he would have to get those lectures ready and ensure that all of his students were still completing the course load. 

He got back to the apartment, let himself in and washed his hands before he touched anything. He sat down on the couch and called Miller and Monty out to play a game, they ended up playing Mario Party with three players and a computer set to ‘hard’. Miller set it to 50 turns and Bellamy knew this game was going to get out of hand. It was a back and forth battle of them stealing each other’s stars and coins, battling Bowser and having them steal their stars when they lost the multiplayer minigames,  _ Thanks Monty _ . By the end of the game, Bellamy was furious, Miller was ready to rage quit, and Monty looked like he was on the verge of tears, as Peach (aka the computer) won the game after trailing and sabotaging them the entire time. Before it could even announce it Miller turned the GameCube off and stomped off to his room. He and Monty just looked at each other and burst out laughing when they heard his door slam shut.

Once they stopped laughing, Monty got up and retreated to his room saying he had some work to do before he went to bed, so Bellamy headed back to his room. He wondered if he should get a snack but ultimately decided against it, it was getting late and he should go to bed soon. He wanted to try to keep some semblance of a normal schedule through this lockdown. He got snuggled up in his bed with his favourite pyjama bottoms and comfy t-shirt, propped the glasses he only ever wears in the apartment on his nose and pulled out the book he was reading yesterday. 

He was dozing off, felt his head nodding, when a loud song startled him. He rummaged around his bed looking for the source of the music when he finally found his phone. He saw the caller ID, and swiped to answer, “Hello?” he knew his voice was groggy and he tried to shake it off. 

“Bellamy? Did I wake you? I’m so sorry!”

“No, no Clarke it’s fine I wasn’t sleeping!” he sat up in his bed, “I was just reading a book. How are you?”

“You’re lying, you were sleeping, I can hear it in your voice!”

“Seriously, it’s fine! How was your day?”

“What’s a word worse than hell? Because that’s how my day was.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yes? But at the same time that’s the actual last thing I want to do.”

“I can understand that. What do you want to talk about then?”

“Tell me more about you?”

“Well, my name is Bellamy, and I’m a high school history teacher. I have a younger sister and a brother-in-law and that’s the only family I have. I live with my best childhood friend and another one of our friends, but I’m not convinced that they won’t become an item at some point. It’s still to be determined, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all. We have a great group of friends and it’s been horrible not getting to see them like we usually do - which is at least four times a week. I live a fairly plain life.”

She laughed softly at him, “What do you and your friends do when you hangout?”

“It really depends on the day, sometimes we play games at home, others we are playing sports in whatever rec league we decided to join that season. That usually doesn’t go very well because some of us are athletic, others are not, but we always have fun.”

“Sounds like it. I would kill to have friends to play games with. Wow that sounded desperate and sad as soon as it came out of my mouth.”

“Well, when all this ends, you’re welcome to come to one of our game nights.”

“I wasn’t looking for an invitation, you know that right?”

“I know, Clarke. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about you?”

“Well, I’m a doctor, obviously. I just moved here a couple months ago, my mom heard from one of her friends that there was a position opening up in the hospital in town and I applied for it to get out of my old town. My friend, Raven, lived here so she said that we could live together for a little bit, until I could find my own place. She spends most of her time at her boyfriend’s anyway so I’m guessing she’ll just move in with him and give me her apartment. I was kind of dealing with a lot when I left, and I left to get away from everything, and now I’m here dealing with all this.”

“Well, just know that you’re not alone. I mean I guess you’re physically alone, but you can always call me. Any time. I mean that.”

“Thanks. I can’t explain it but you’re easy to talk to. I feel like I’m always crossing a line or about to cross a line every time we talk.” she giggled. 

He was glad that she wasn’t there in front of him, or she’d have seen him turn bright pink, “I know the feeling.”

The line was silent for a moment, and he was wondering what she was doing. He could hear soft shuffling, but her voice was absent. He looked at the clock beside his bed, it was after midnight, “Hey, Clarke?”

“Yeah?”

“What are you doing right now?”

“I’m walking home from the hospital. Why?”

“Just wondering, it’s after midnight.”   
  


“If you want to hang up and go to bed you just have to say so.”

‘No!” he said all too quickly. “No, I was just curious.”

“Well in that case, what are you doing right now?”

He snorted out a laugh, “I guess I should have expected that. I’m just sitting here talking to you.” he said in almost a whisper. 

“What did you do today?”

“I actually played some guitar, I bought myself some new sheet music last night. Then went for a walk and after dinner had a very intense game of Mario Party with my roommates that ended in tears, a rage quit and some laughs.”

“Sounds exciting! Which one were you?”

“Laughing definitely.”

“Good.” he could almost hear her smiling when he said it. 

“So how much longer until you get home?”

“Just a couple minutes, I should eat, but I just want to go in my room and crash.”

“You definitely need to eat.”

“I probably will. I just want to do it quickly and get to bed, I’m exhausted.”

“When is your next day off?”

“Who knows at this point.”

“What do you mean?”

“With everything going on there’s always a chance that we’ll be called in on our days off, depending on how the staff handle the virus. If any of us get it it’s going to be insane. I’m supposed to be off on Thursday, we’re all working together to make sure that we keep our days off because we know how important it is, it’s just hard with all of this.”

“I wish I could do something to help you.”

“You are helping me, Bellamy. You’re helping me and you don’t even know me.”

“Well I’d like to.”

He heard a beep and then some sort of swish noise, and he guessed that she just got into her building. Another beep he guessed was the elevator, “Should I let you go, Clarke?”

“What? Oh-sorry I’m just going up to my apartment. Do you want to go?”

“I just don’t want to bother you.”

“I don’t know how many times I can say it, you’re helping me. I appreciate you talking to me, more than you realize.”

“Why? Why did you actually message me?”

“I don’t know. I guess because I couldn’t really believe that a drone was flying from your balcony over to the roof of my building with a note attached to it for me. It was funny and something positive through all the negativity. Who knew I’d find you on the other side of that note.”

“Glad I could help,” it was clear in his voice that he was smiling, “Even if it did start in the weirdest of circumstances.” he was laughing now.

“It makes a great story to tell one day!” she laughed back. 

“I’ll let you go and get to bed, Clarke. But I meant it when I said, anytime you need someone to talk to; I’m here. Even if it’s the middle of the night - just call.”

“Thanks. Don’t think I won’t hold you to that though.” He could hear her smiling. 

“Goodnight, Clarke.”

“Goodnight, Bellamy.”

He waited a second, clearly she was too, before he pulled the phone away from his ear and pressed the end button. He smiled to himself as he looked at his phone. A moment later, he had a notification from Snapchat. 

* _ cgriffin has added you as a friend! _ * He opened the app, even though he never used it, and accepted her friend request. Another moment later he got a notification that he had a snap from her. He opened it up to see a bowl of cereal with the caption “Just to prove that I’m eating before crashing.”

He snapped back a picture of his book on his nightstand, to which she called him a nerd. She didn’t reply to the next one he sent and he assumed that she had gone to bed, so he put his phone on his nightstand and turned the light off. 

***

They carried on that way for the rest of the week. Snapping random things back and forth to each other, and she would call him on her way home from her shift. Bellamy got his lectures ready and was in the process of uploading them to the online learning site for his students and he, Monty, and Miller had played more video games than he ever thought possible. 

Every time his phone lit up with a notification from her he would smile. He always tried to keep things light when they were talking, her job was hard enough he wanted to try to make her feel better. He texted her a couple pictures of Octavia’s dog, Chewy; he snapped her a video of their video games where they finally beat the computer at Mario Party; but he never sent him a snap of himself. She never sent a snap of herself. It was kind of this unwritten rule that they had but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to know what she looked like. She was far enough that day on the roof that he couldn’t see her features clearly and after talking to her for the past week he was curious. 

He hadn’t told Miller or Monty that they had been in contact, he was not about to give them that satisfaction. He did tell Octavia though. She had, of course, laughed hysterically when he first told her saying how much she couldn’t wait to talk about it with his roommates, before he swore her to absolute secrecy. 

“It’s like that show that just dropped on Netflix. Love is Blind? The one where these people just live in these pods and talk to each other and they don’t know what the other looks like and then they have to decide if the guy proposes then they get to see each other face-to-face for the first time.”

“That is definitely not what is happening here. She just needs a friend.”

“I’m sure she has other friends to talk to. Listen, Bell, I’m not saying you have to marry the girl, it’s just funny how similar the concept is. You’ve never even seen what she looks like and you’re talking to her every single day, why don’t you send her a snap with your face in it?”

“I don’t know. I guess I don’t want to send her anything she doesn’t want?”

“Okay, I guess that’s fair. Maybe you should ask her?”

“Okay, clearly this lock down is getting to you, because that is not something I’m ever going to do.”

“But you are curious?”

“Of course I’m curious, wouldn’t you be?”

“I guess so. Who knows, maybe she’s just as scared as you are.”

“I’m not scared, I’m considerate of not sending her something she doesn’t want - I’ve already said that.”

“Whatever, Bellamy.”

“Okay, I’ve got to let you go.”

“Time for a call with Clarke?”

“Shut up.”

“Bye Bellamy.”

“Talk soon, O. Bye.”

He hung up with his sister and picked up his guitar waiting for Clarke to call. The call never came. He figured she just got stuck at the hospital and would call when she was done. He ended up falling asleep and woke up to notifications on his phone; just not from her. He went through his day, checking his phone, wondering if he should reach out. 

The day passed slowly as he waited to hear from her but nothing. He went to bed that night confused and worried about her. What if she got sick? What if she was sick and all alone in her apartment? What if he freaked her out with something and she didn’t want to talk to him anymore? okay, that sounded a little sad he thought to himself, but he liked talking to her. 

The days went on and he still hadn’t heard from her. Octavia encouraged him to message her, but he wasn’t sure. It felt like violating a boundary or something. Until he finally had enough; about five days after he last spoke to her he texted her.

**Bellamy [8:43]:** Hey Clarke. I hope you’re okay. I haven’t heard from you in a while and I just wanted to check in. Let me know you’re okay. 

And still nothing. Days passed again, Bellamy carried on with his life. He was grading all the online work his students had completed. Trying to go for walks and get fresh air as much as possible or hanging out with his roommates with no interaction from her. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t upset. But at the same time he felt like it was expected. Slowly the voices that he battled in high school started clawing their way back. 

What about him was so horrible that he drove everyone away? It was only a matter of time before Miller and Monty and the rest of their friends decided that they didn’t need him in their life and left him too. His dad had left, so why shouldn’t everyone else? His mom might as well have left with the way she acted when he was a child. 

He played his guitar and doubled down on his exercises that he had learned to deal with everything he was feeling. He went back to playing the one song that got him through everything he’d ever gone through. The funk lasted a couple days and then he was back to himself. If Miller and Monty noticed they didn’t say anything, but Miller left him a book outside his door so Bellamy knew he must have thought something was up and didn’t want to impose. 

He brought himself back out of the funk. The lockdown was clearly getting to him, and he decided that when all of this was over he was going to take a vacation somewhere. Probably next year, just to be on the safe side. He knew there was probably a reasonable explanation for the radio silence from Clarke, and it probably had nothing to do with him. Sometimes those feelings just crept up and all he could do was fight back. 

* _ Snapchat: From cgriffin _ * he gaped at his phone for a minute before he could bring himself to open it.

It was a selfie of her, with a filter that gave her puppy ears and a puppy nose and her mouth was turned down in a pout. She had captioned the picture “a week and a half of pure hell has this girl tuckered out.”

He sat there with his mouth open, looking at the snap taking in her features. Even as exhausted as she said she was and with a dog filter on her face he could tell she was beautiful. Her hair was to the side in a braid and her eyes were the most vibrant blue he had ever seen. She had a little birthmark right above her lip and a sharp jawline. As he was taking in the picture his phone displayed a text notification.

**Clarke [10:30]:** Bellamy, I am so sorry. There is no excuse for me going radio silent, but I can tell you the past week and a half was so horrible I turned my phone off and shut myself in my room when I wasn’t on shift. It was dark and I didn’t talk to anyone. Again, not an excuse, you just deserve an explanation. 

He pulled up the text app on his phone and his fingers hovered over the keyboard as he contemplated what to answer her. Part of him didn’t know if he should answer; but another part of him knew that he had to. He typed a couple things out and ended up erasing every single one of them. 

**Bellamy [10:43]:** Clarke, you don’t have to apologize. I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through with all of this. Especially when every day seems to be worse than the day before. I’m sorry you’re going through it alone and that the past week and a half was that bad for you. Again, here whenever you need me. 

* _ Snapchat: From cgriffin _ * this time it was a selfie of her without a filter smiling at the camera with the caption “Thanks, Bellamy. I realized we’ve never shared photos of ourselves, so here is me.”

He laughed, and snapped a selfie of himself and sent it to her with the caption, “I guess it’s only fair if I send you one too then, huh?”

She snapped back a random picture of some book and put the caption, “Wow, cute and a good person, are you actually a unicorn?”

He followed suit with the page of the book he was reading and captioned “If you say so. You’re the beautiful superhero though.” and sent it before he could change his mind. They had never talked like this before. This was new territory for him with her but he liked it. It was like she could sense that he needed something from her as he was coming out of his funk and so she reached back out. 

***

The next month and a half was full of flirty messages back and forth between the two of them. Nothing ever too forward, just flirty and lighthearted. Finally they were seven days away from having the lockdown cleared and Bellamy was ready for it to be over. Monty and Miller seemed to be closer to having something happen between them and he was hopeful that they could go out when they were released from lockdown.

**Bellamy [11:26]:** I’m pretty sure my roommates are close to hooking up, and all I can say is it’s about damn time. 

**Clarke [1:27]:** Well I guess this lockdown was good for something? 

**Clarke [1:28]:** Or good for a couple things :)

**Bellamy [1:29]:** You might have a point there, Griffin :)

**Clarke [1:30]:** Of course, I do :)

**Bellamy [2:43]:** I hope that we are actually free in a week! I need to see people besides my roommates, especially if they’re entering into that blissed out honeymoon new couple phase. 

**Clarke [3:29]:** I don’t want to jinx it, but it’s looking good :)

A week later, they were all officially released from lock down by the government. There had not been a new case reported for twenty-two days and they finally felt like they could get the world, or their world, back on track. Things were definitely going to be different after this but Bellamy believed everything would eventually be okay. Bellamy hollered to Monty and Miller that he was running to the store. He didn’t know what store, or what he was going for but he was going to the store. 

He pulled his hockey hoodie on over his head, and walked out the door. He marvelled at seeing the lights in the stores and restaurants open again. People filled the park, a couple kids playing on the playground; their parents were clearly still apprehensive but also grateful that it seemed to be over. The smell of pizza wafted into the street as the shop owner left the door open, inviting everyone into the shop. Bellamy went in and ordered pizza to pick up later for dinner that night, texting all his friends and Octavia as he did telling them to come over for dinner. Sure they still got pizza during the lockdown but this was different, this was freedom pizza and it was going to be with all the people he cared about. 

He stepped out of the pizza shop and turned the corner with a slight hop in his step. He wasn’t watching where he was going and he walked right into someone, “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!” his arms immediately reaching out to prevent the person from falling.

“Shit, sorry!” the person said at the same time he spoke, and he knew that voice..

“Clarke?” 

She looked up at him, and he saw the realization on her face, “Bellamy?”

“Fancy meeting you here!” he smiled at her.

She didn’t give him a chance to say anything else, just grabbed him by the hoodie and crashed her lips against his. He didn’t respond right away, thrown off by how forward she was in that moment. But then he did respond. He moved his lips against hers softly, bringing his hand up from where it braced under her elbow to cup her cheek. 

She pulled away a moment later, “Wow” she smiled up at him. 

“Sorry I didn’t mean to attack you like that, I just got caught up in the moment.”

“Is that how you get caught up in every moment when you run into someone on the street?” he laughed at her.

“Only when they’re the cute guy that helped me get through the pandemic without losing my shit completely.” she winked at him.

“Well in that case,” and he lowered his lips to hers again quickly, and pulled away just as quickly, “Do you want to come over tonight? I just ordered a bunch of pizza and invited everyone over.”

She thought about it for a minute, “Sure! But only if you agree to go on an actual date with me.”

He looked down at her, marvelling at her forwardness and general interest in him, “I’d love to.” he couldn’t stop smiling. 

“I guess I was right, this lockdown was good for something,” she went up on her tiptoes, and kissed his cheek, “I’m going to go home and get some rest, I just got off shift. What time should I come over tonight?”

“Whenever you want to, as soon as you want to, I’ll text you the apartment number.” 

She kissed his cheek again, and headed towards her apartment building. 

“Hey Clarke?”

She turned around to face him again, “Yeah?”

“Did you want to just come over and hangout now? We could grab some lunch and then watch a movie? Totally okay if you fall asleep.”

She smiled, “Yeah. Let me go home and shower, and I’ll come right over. What are we going to eat?”

“I’ll grab something from Sal’s down the street, text me what you want.”

“You got it!” she smiled and turned back to head to her apartment. 

They spent the rest of the day cuddled up in his bed watching movies, well he watched movies while she slept. If you had told him when the day started, that on his first day being released from lock down Bellamy would be spending the day doing exactly what he had done during lock down he would have laughed in your face. But having Clarke there with him changed everything. He could do this for days again if he had to. That night she met all of his friends, and his sister, and he got to give his friends a big hug and his sister a bigger hug. He was smiling the entire day. 

The next year was a whirlwind, and Clarke joined him on the vacation he promised himself. They decided on doing a couple week trip through Europe. Bellamy decided to propose on their trip, not in front of any big landmark, but with a sweet speech in their bed and breakfast. The next year was them planning their wedding, him learning a new song on the guitar every time there was something wedding related. She loved when he played and he loved playing for her. In a special surprise he learned her favourite romantic song on the guitar and with the help of his tech-y friends and her friend Raven (who fit in with their ragtag group very well thank you) he recorded it on the guitar and that was their first dance song. 

He still had his bad days, where the overwhelming darkness would consume him, but he always knew that he had one person he could never hide from. When things got very dark he'd still pick up that guitar, and play whatever song he felt like. Usually it was their wedding song, hearing it and feeling his hands move through the familiar notes brought him back to that day. The day he married his soulmate because they met in the midst of world darkness, but they came face-to-face on the first day back in the light, and his world has been brighter ever since. That brightness made the dark days a little bit more bearable. 

She was right-as she always was, it was a great story to tell one day, especially when their kids asked them how they met. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
